A mild-mannered, unadventurous teacher plans to stay home for summer vacation until he purchases a strange ring from a street vendor who claims it will lead him to the girl of his dreams, and begins an adventure that has him hopping across eastern Europe in pursuit of her.



Fatih Akin is a German-born filmmaker of Turkish descent who has spent his career exploring the different facets of the immigrant experience. In this, his second feature, he takes a lighthearted approach that is equal parts romantic comedy, road movie, and meditation on chance vs. fate. Also present is an harmonious vision of a region of Europe with a very tumultuous past.



In July stars German actors Moritz Bleibtreu (known to most in America as the boyfriend from Run Lola Run) and Christiane Paul, as well as other frequent collaborators of Akin. The film was shot on location in Akin's native Hamburg, as well as Budapest and Istanbul, and the spoken languages include German, Turkish, English, Romanian, and Serbo-Croatian.



Bliebtreu would go on to win a German Film Award for his performance, and Akin's future films found great festival success, with Head-On (2004) winning the Golden Bear and Critics' Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, and The Edge of Heaven (2007) taking Best Screenplay at Cannes, among other citations.



Film runs approximately 100 minutes.



NOTE: this week's feature will be preceded by short programming in honor of writer-director Anthony Minghella, who died two years ago on March 18th.